Folding bed



April 21 1925.

J. A. KELLY Filed July 11, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 lwuewtoz L/ose 6/4 1Q?)April 21, 1925.

J. A. KELLY FOLDING BED Filed July 11,1922

5 Sheets-Sheet 2 awe/MM wise 614 X/iQZ/f J. A. KELLY April 21, 1925.

FOLDING BED Fil d July 11, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Apr. 21, 1925.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- JOSEPH A. KELLY, or mama, IOWA.

roLDinG BED.

Application filed July 11, 1922. a Serial No. 574,151.

To (ZZZ whom it may concern; 1

, Be 1 known that I, Josnrnt A. KELLY, a

citizen of the United States, residing'at Clinton, in the county ofClinton and State of Iowa, have invented new and useful I1nprovements inFolding Beds, of which the following is a specification.

Th s inventlon relates to folding-beds and particularly to -a deviceofthe character designated which is adapted to be installed as acoherent part of a building construction.

One 10f the objects of the inventionis the construction of a built-inbed unit constituted by a cabinet having a door in the front facethereof adapted to lie substantially in the plane of a wall of thebuilding in which said cabinet is installed, and provided with afoldingbed structurally associated with,

said cabinet and operatively connectedt-o the door thereof, whereby inthe opening of said door the initial unfolding movement of said bed isautomatically accomplished.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a foldingbed, pivotally supportedon a horizontal axis and normally forwardlyinclined when; folded, atan angle almost sufficient to unbalance itsstability of position relative to said axis so that a slight furtherinclinationof the bed through nianually applied force will carry thecenter of gravity over thepivotal axis and facilitate the unfolding ofsaid bed without the neces j sityrofmoving the deadweight thereof.

With the above andother objects in view, my invention consists in theimproved folding bed illustrated in the accompanying drawings, describedin the following specification, and particularly claimed, and in suchvariatlons and modifications thereof as will be obvious to those skilledin the art to which my invention relates In'the drawings accompanyingand forming a part of thisspecification, and wherein the preferredembodiment of my invention is illustrated I Figure 1 is a perspectiveview ofa portion of a buildingshowing my improved folding bed installedas a coherent part thereof. i a K Figure 2 1s a sectional view of acabinet showing a side elevation of the folding bed in extendedposition.

closed by the door 3, said door being shown in aja-r position in FigureQand in dotted lines in Figure 5, and being shown in open position inFigure 4. To the opposite sides of said cabinet are secured brackets 4:each ofsaid brackets being provided with an over-- hanging ledge 5engaging the upper edge of a supporting board 7, shown i-n Figures 2 and3, which assists the screws 8 in holding the brackets rigidly againstdisplacement,

The brackets t are provided with aligned apertures 9 forming bearingsfora rod 10 which extends transversely the full width of the cabinet.The door 3 is rigidlysecured by hinges to the lower front wall of thecabinet. i

The folding bed, which is generally designated by the reference numeral12 is also vp votally supported upon the rod 10 by means of the stopblocks 13 arranged atopposite sides thereof and provided with overhanging lugs 1 1 and 15 whichlimit the angular movement of said foldingbed, the

lug 14 resting upon the upper face 16 or the bracket 4 when the bed is.in extended position, and the lugv 15 abutting against the face 17 ofsaid bracket when the bed is in the inclined folded position showninFigure 5. i i

The folding bed is made in three sections 18, 19 and 20, said sectionsbeing hingedly secured together by being pivotally con n'ected toopposite ends of short links 2lan'd 22. Each of these links is providedwith a rigid transverse brace, 23 and 2.4. respectively, by means ofwhich the bed is laterally stiffened. The first namedsection of the bedis supported upon the upper face of the stop bloc-k in any suitablemanner and the last section is supported upon the door an inwardlyextending flange 85 which is in the path of the hooked member 36 whenthe outer section of the bed is folded, as shown in Figure 1, andengaged by said hooked member to prevent said folded section frombecoming unfolded when placed in the inverted position shown in Figure5.

The provision of supporting legs adjacent the link 21 is unnecessary,the section 18 being rigidly held in a horizontal position when the bedis unfolded by the engagement of the lug 14 with the upper face 16 ofthe bracket 4. The upper ends of the legs of each pair project slightlyabove their pivotal connection with the bed frame and are pivotallyconnected to the ends of the rods 29 and 30 respectively, the other endsof said rods being pivotally connected to the adjacent links 21 and 22.By this construction, when the folding operation of the bed has begunthe angular relation assumed between each lied-section and its joininglink causes the legs to be swung to a position of parallelism with therespective bed sections, and causes them to swing downwardly to aposition perpendicular to the floor when the bed is unfolded.

The head rail 81 is pivotally secured to rigid uprights 32 positioned atthe outer ends of the bed section 20 and is foldable to the positionshown in Figure l, in which position it clampably holds the mattress,not

shown, in place while the bed is being folded. The folding of the headrail is uncoordinated with the rest of the folding mechanism. In foldingthe bed the operator first turns down the head rail 31, then raises theouter end of the section 20 and folds it upon the sect-ion 29. This actcauses the legs 27 to arrange themselves parallel to the section 20, thelatter assuming a position substantially at right angles to the link 22.The

bed is then in the position shown in Figure l. The operator then graspsthe transverse brace rod 2% and folds the bed so that the section 19becomes perpendicular to the link 21, .the latter turning about itspivotal connection with the section 18 so that the folded portion of thebed lies above the latter section. The bed is then tilted downwardlyinto the position shown in Figure 5, the final movement of the samebeing performed by gravity and without assistance of the operator. Thebed comes to a rest in the position shown in Figure 5 with the stopblock 13 in engagement with the face 17 of the bracket l.

masses The door 3 is operatively attached to the folding bed by means ofthe flexible connection 33 so that the door is independently closedafter the bed has assumed its folded position of repose.

To open the bed, the handle 34 of the door is grasped and the dooropened to the dotted line position shown in Figure 5. The length of theflexible connection is such that the slack in said connection is takenup when the angularity of inclination of the door is the same as that ofthe bed. Further opening movement of the door results in the bed beingpulled forward, the inclined osition of the bed being such that thestability of its equilibrium is readily upset and it falls forward bygravity to a horizontal position. The bed is then unfolded by reversingthe sequence of opera tions by which it was folded.

A folding bed unit of the character herein described is particularlyadapted to be built into the walls of the rooms of houses and especiallyof rooms which are used in the day time for other purposes than that ofsleeping apartments. The cabinet 1 is designed to be built in with thefront face thereof flush with the surface of the wall, and the doorlends itself to any form of decoration or ornamentation which willharmonize or merge with the wall decorae tion so as to become a partthereof. In the illustration in Figure 1 the door is panelled as shownat 37 to match the panelling of the surrounding wall.

But it is not intended that the possibilities of use of my improvedfolding bed unit shall be restricted to built-in constructions for thecabinet may constitute a piece of furniture affording a compact andartistic construction adaptable for use in many places where, on accountof lack of room, there would be no place for a full length bed.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. A folding bed unit comprising a bed and a support therefor,cooperating hinge elements carried by said support and bed for pivotallymounting the latter, said hinge elements being formed with means fornormally maintaining said bed in stable equilibrium about its pivotalaxis but close to a position of instability.

2. A folding bed unit comprising a cabinet having an open front, afolding bed pivotally mounted within said cabinet and swingable relativethereto about a pivotal axis when said bed is folded, cooperating meanscarried by said bed and cabinet for normally maintaining said bed instable equilibrium about said axis but close to a position ofinstability, a door for closing the open front of said cabinet andtractive means operetively connecting said door and the upper part ofthe folded bed, said means being of such length as to permit the bedtobe tipped to a" position of unstabled equilibrium by the openingmovement of said door.

3. A folding bed unit comprising 2 cabinet, 2L bracket in said cabinet,a folding bed pivotally mounted with respect to said bracket and havinga stop block secured thereto and engageable with said bracket, said stopblock and bracket having cooperating faces to limit the movement of saidbed toe horizontal position in one direction and to an inclined positionin stable equi* librium at the other limit of its rangeof movement.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing Witnesses.

JOSEPH A. KELLY. Witnesses v l VILLIAM JAMES BURKE, WILLIAM M. CLARK.

